Teacher beats up student for speaking out against Laden

A class five student had to be hospitalised on being severely beaten up by his Urdu teacher for making remarks against Saudi billionaire and extremist Osama bin Laden during a discussion on the terrorist attacks in the United States, police said on Saturday.

The teacher got so infuriated on hearing Koushik Dey's remarks against Laden on Friday that he pounced on him and thrashed him in a high school in West Bengal's Birbhum district, they said.

The boy had to be taken to hospital for treatment, they added.

While the headmaster of the school said the teacher had apologised for his action, the boy's father has lodged a complaint in the Suri police station.